Editorial
In what was deemed an unseeingly quiet political fortnight, the consensus that a storm was brewing received corroboration this week with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba telling his hotchpotch government colleagues that he had to table his MCC bill in parliament. Significantly enough, Deuba also pronounced that he needs to conduct the local level elections around the time of the Election Commission set date. The cauldron cooks within these two declarations since the government members differ on election dates, Pushpa Kamal of the Maoists would rather that the dates be differed to accommodate elections to all tiers of government. As if this dissension was not enough, supremo Prachanda insists that the MCC bill needs amendments. Deuba of course has his Tarai and Socialist (UML splinter) parties to boost his ranks but dissenting Maoists could lead him to trouble. This dissent, moreover, opens speculative possibilities. The Opposition UML insists that dates set by the Election Commission not be tampered with and, predictably enough, has issued new party injunctions mobilizing cadre nationwide in preparation for a confrontation and, in the least, for elections. Indeed, what could well be cooking is some spice luring a Congress/UML cooperation to pass the MCC in parliament in exchange for a poll tie-up with accords on dates and all that. How Deuba sees himself selling the MCC in parliament amidst sessions deliberately aborted by the opposition is a mystery otherwise. To boot, his poll decision would be a chimaera in the absence of a nod from K.P.Oli of the UML
Obviously thus, Deuba’s twin decisions are ample material to stirs both parliamentary politics and the streets. Oli of the UML has already compounded the stir. The streets cannot but intensify their agitation taking a clue from the prime minister’s pronouncements. At another level, the government determination to take to the polls must provoke enough street activities from ambitious poll contestants who will be goaded into the fray by pro-establishment functionaries in the media and outside. Presence in the streets thus assured, room for conflagration increases in the presence of striking uncertainties. Yes, the streets will be added to by many an activist working at cross purposes. There will be some on the streets wishing election boycotts, some wishing for election presence; there will be MCC opponents on the streets and there will be those who have been fielded to overcome government parties in the polls. It is this mix that bears watching since the general opinion is that we are hell-bent on inviting a conflagration of proportions that border on the international in scope and content. As muscles begin flexing and as hornets begin stinging, Nepali politics is most likely to take new hues. The current calm will perhaps contribute to a directional change in Nepali politics that need not altogether be unwelcome. The status quo is, after all, proving too expensive. The indecision is exhaustive.
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